In a federal courtroom in Texas on January 31, 2026, Judge Fred Biery issued a ruling that should shake the conscience of the country.
“Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency. And the rule of law be damned.”
That wasn’t a liberal protestor. It wasn’t a late-night talk show host. It was a judge – someone appointed to uphold the Constitution – calling out the actions of the federal government for what they have become. This isn’t an isolated quote. It’s the backdrop to heartbreaking real human stories playing out in our neighborhoods, schools, and hospitals today.
Below are the real cases documented in news reporting and court filings, told with the facts and detail required to understand the human cost. Calling out the federal government for prioritizing “deportation quotas” over the lives of children.
1) Liam Conejo Ramos: The 5-Year-Old Used as “Bait”
On January 20, 2026, 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrián Conejo Arias, were returning home from preschool in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. They were following every rule – they had an active asylum claim and were complying with U.S. law.
The arrest was an exercise in calculated trauma. According to school officials and witnesses, agents used 5-year-old Liam as “bait.” They took him out of the vehicle and directed him to knock on his own front door, asking to be let in, so they could arrest his mother if she answered. When agents finally drove them away, they separated Liam from the very items that gave him comfort: his blue bunny hat and his Spider-Man backpack.
The Nightmare in Dilley, Texas
They were flown 1,300 miles to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. Inside, the conditions were abysmal:
- The water was putrid and smelled of sulfur.
- The food contained insects and worms.
- The lights were kept on 24 hours a day, leaving the children exhausted and disoriented.
- Parents had only one set of clothes, which they had to wash by hand at night and hang to dry.
During a visit from members of Congress, Liam appeared lethargic and depressed. His father, Adrián, reported that Liam had stopped eating and spent most of his time sleeping in his father’s arms. Liam constantly asked for his bunny hat and backpack, and cried for his stuffed turtle and the school cubby where he had left his things.
On January 31, Judge Fred Biery ordered their release. In his ruling, he placed a photo of Liam at the bottom of the document and cited two specific passages from the Bible:
“Jesus wept.” (John 11:35)
“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” (Matthew 19:14) hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” (Matthew 19:14)
2) A 6-Year-Old with Leukemia Arrested at an Immigration Court
In May 2025, a Honduran mother and her two children, ages 6 and 9, were detained by ICE agents as they exited a Los Angeles Immigration Court. They were expecting to continue an asylum case when, without warning, agents in civilian clothing arrested them in the hallway.
According to the lawsuit and legal reporting:
- The 6-year-old had acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a serious blood cancer requiring ongoing medical care.
- Agents reportedly lifted a shirt to display a gun in front of the children, frightening them. The younger boy urinated on himself, and for hours no change of clothing or comfort was offered.
- The family was transported to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, where the boy missed critical medical appointments and chemotherapy, putting his life at risk.
Lawyers argued the arrest violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, since the family had shown up for required hearings and posed no flight risk.
3) U.S. Citizen Children Deported – One With Stage 4 Cancer
In April 2025, ICE reportedly deported multiple families from the New Orleans area, including three U.S. citizen children, ages 2, 4, and 7, alongside their noncitizen parents.
According to complaints filed with federal authorities:
- The 4-year-old was a U.S. citizen diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer and was undergoing active treatment.
- ICE held these families incommunicado, refusing or failing to respond to repeated attempts by attorneys and relatives to contact them before removal.
- Parents alleged they were not given a meaningful opportunity to arrange continued medical care or legal counsel for the children before they were quickly put on flights to Honduras.
Civil rights attorneys argue that this removal ignored internal ICE policies intended to protect citizen children – essentially sending a sick American child to a country where they could not receive life-saving care.
4) The Three Refusals: Wael Tarabishi and the Denial of a Final Goodbye
The case of Wael Tarabishi, a U.S. citizen diagnosed with Pompe disease, illustrates the most calculated form of cruelty. Wael was bedridden and dependent on his father, Maher Tarabishi, as his sole caregiver. Maher has no criminal history. He had checked in with ICE annually for years without issue. Yet, in October 2025, he was detained.
The cruelty happened in three distinct refusals:
- The First Refusal: The family begged ICE to release Maher so he could continue the 24-hour care Wael needed to survive. They said no. Without his father’s care, Wael’s health plummeted into sepsis and pneumonia.
- The Second Refusal: As Wael lay dying, the family asked for Maher to be allowed to go to the hospital to say a final goodbye to his son. They said no.
- The Third Refusal: After Wael passed away on January 23, 2026, the family begged for Maher to be allowed to attend the funeral. Again, they said no.
The government often allows violent criminals “compassionate release” for funerals, but they denied it to a father who had done everything right. As his family said, “They may not kill Wael with a bullet, but they killed him inside by taking the only person he asked for.”
A Tidal Wave of Cases: “Liam is Not Alone”
These aren’t isolated incidents. They are the visible tip of a massive surge in enforcement that targets children specifically to meet “deportation quotas.”
- In Columbia Heights alone: Superintendent Zena Stenvik reported that in the same week Liam was taken, three other students were arrested, including a 10-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy pulled from his car on the way to school.
- The “Tipan Echeverria” Case: Elvis Joel Tipan Echeverria and his 2-year-old daughter were pulled from their car and put on a flight to Texas within eight hours of being detained.
- A Skyrocketing Toll: Reports indicate that the number of children in ICE detention has skyrocketed since late 2025, with over 1,000 alleged rights abuses documented in facilities like Dilley – ranging from medical neglect to physical abuse.
The Pattern of Cruelty
When you read these cases side-by-side, you see exactly what Judge Fred Biery saw. This is no longer about “the law.” It is about a “lust for unbridled power.”
- They use 5-year-old boys as bait to trap their own mothers.
- They let U.S. citizens die by snatching away the caregivers who keep them alive.
- They deport children with stage 4 cancer, knowingly sending them to places where they cannot survive.
There is no “rule of law” when the law itself is used as a weapon against the innocent. When policy is stripped of human decency, the very soul of the justice system is lost. As Judge Biery warned, when we allow this to happen in our name, the rule of law is indeed damned.
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